Kosovo's good gesture in Canada: Dispensing Free Bread for the Elderly

That's how online newspaper Calgary Journal started writing for the Albanian from Kosovo that is distributing free bread in Canada.

Growing up in Pristina, Duraj and his five brothers lived with profits from their oven. They made a famous name with their oven as a result of the delicious pies they cooked. In 1999, the Duraj family was among the over one million refugees who fled the country during the war in Kosovo.

Serbian forces were killing people in Kosovo. Me, my wife and my eldest daughter went to Macedonia, where we stayed two months in a UN camp”, Duraj says. Duraj and his family made the decision to emigrate to Canada as refugees from the camp.

Not long after we arrived at the camp, my family name came to the table. I remember it like it was yesterday. I saw my name on the board saying we'd be flying to Canada in a week. I remember on May 13, 1999, we flew to Canada”.

Upon arriving in Canada, the Duraj family remained at a military base in Gagetown. Two and a half months after they arrived, Duraj and his wife decided to move to Calgary, where they were received generously.

I wanted to build it from zero. I wanted to do everything I wanted, not what contractors and owners were telling me.

After adjusting to life in Calgary, Duraj was able to get a job on the Sunterra market, where he continued his family's trade as a baker. By 2002, Duraj had purchased his first home and began searching for his own space for a bakery to continue his family's inheritance.

Duraj opened the oven '%Bakery European' on March 15th 2006. At first, Duraj and his wife were the only ones who worked in the oven. But in favor of many companies, the bakery has also been hit by the last pandemic of COVID-19.

Even with massive business closures, Duraj is looking for ways to help the community and people by distributing bread for those in need.

I and my children started talking about how we could help people” about three weeks ago.

Duraj realized that the elderly were very vulnerable and needed more help than most during this difficult time.

We started helping the elderly around the city by distributing two free loaves for those who can't leave their homes”.

Duraj stresses that it is on occasions like these we should support each other.